The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-05-06
THE JANITOR'S FEES
PERQUISITES ROLL IN FAST ENOUGH
TO MAKE HIM RICH.

An Income which Would Make Almost
ANY Man Happy-The Flat Janitor an
Autocrat Whose Vengeance Is Not to
he Despised.
A good ianitorship is we'll worth having.
There mGy not be much glory in it, but it
produces lots of money. When Alderman
Tom Cleary went on the witness stand the
other day to make out the best case he
could for himself, he said that his income
rs janltor of the Equitable Life building
footed up Gbout 5000 a month, and that he
made S245 n month more by looking after
other buildings. His janitorial earnings
therefore, camo very near SD, coo year.
There are hundreds Of hard worked law
yers, doctors, professors, ministers, jour
nalists, artists and other educated brain
toilcrs in New York who would be glad to
earn half of that. Indeed a third of it
would make q good many brain workers
happy. The professional man of any call
ing who is sure of $4,000 year is ON the
lucky eide. OF course there are some who
make a great deal more, especially law
yers and doctors, but they are the few.
The many are more likely to be below the
&c. 900 mark than above Il. The mayor
of New York gets u salary Of $40 900, and
q judge of the United States supreme
court receives $4,000, while Tom Cleary
could pick up nearly $4,000 as janitor.
REGULAR APPURTENANCEs.
But there are not many janitorships as
profitable as his-p, obably not another.
All the large office buildings have janitors
rs regular appurtepances, but the post in
the Equitable building is apparently the
best of ALL Others are good for $4,000
to $4,000 or $4,000. The actual salary
is not large in any case, but it is not the
salary that counts, but the pcrquisites. A
man could make money, good deal Of
money, by taking the janitorship of n
large Office building for nothing and de-
pending on the perquisitcs alone. All the
tenants find it desirable to be on the right
side OF the janitor all the help employed
by him ditto, and every person furnishing
supplies Of any kind or doing work of any
kind knows that he must "make it all
right" with the janitor or find himself
dropped very soon.
1t is in the big uptown flats, though,
that the janitor is an autocrat in earnest.
A ianitor is as necessary in flat as n
porter in large store. There is n great
deal of work TO be done TO keep the place
in order and the janitor is there to do it.
Most of the tenants believe he is also
there to make their lives as wretched rs
possible. They probably never see the
at all, and the agent only once
month, when he calls for the rent, but
the janitor is always with them. Neither
by day nor by night can they escape his
haunting presence. 1t is the special pc
culiarity of the fiat janitor to be always
on the make, and he finds q thousand
ways to make this perfectly clear to all
who came in contact with him. If n ten
ant wants any little matter attended to, he
discovers very soon that the ianitor re-
CARDS it as an extra, to be considered only
in connection with spot cash. The sum
total may be only Il dime, or possibly
quarter, but dimes and quarters make
dollars, and the jantor has frugal mind.
THE MATTER OF SUPPLIES.
His best hold, however, is in the mat
ter of supplies. Each and all must
patronize the butcher, baker, grocer,
milkman, ice man and coal man. They
are his favortes, because they understand
the spot cash principle and act on it. On
every order they get from the house the
janitor receives what the vulgar call
''whack," but what he prefers to call a
commission. If new tenant shows any
p"erile weakness for dealing with
butcher, baker or grocer not ON the jan
itor's list, he or she finds out very soon
trat il won't do. The ianitor may not
say anything, but he has ways of showing
W nat he thinks about IL that are much
more effective than words. The roast
beef and the French rolls may bear out
ward evidence of association with ashes,
ard the groceries seem to have been in IA
mud puddle.
II the lanitor he questioned as to why
tris IL thus, Of course he knows nothing
about It; but he is likely TO hint that it
W )uld be better to drop that particular
brtcher, baker or grocer, and order from
h favorite instead The tenant who re-
fuses to take the hint is not wise But
n arly all do take it, for experience in other
flats has taught them n lesson. Unless
tie janitor is placated, neither peace OF
m'nd nor comfort Of body may be looked
for. Though only humble servitio in
theory, he Is autocrat of the establishment
in fact, ard TO disregard his power in to
irvitc his vcngeance.-New York Cor.
Detroit Free Press.